How to add a bitmap to a Win32 GUI window

Question

I am trying to add a bitmap image to a window in my Win32 GUI program.

I watched several tutorials but I couldn't get the image to appear in the window, I compiled the program and it just isn't there.

This is my code, most of it is just the default Codeblocks Win32 template. The image is in the same directory as the files for the program.

#if defined(UNICODE) && !defined(_UNICODE)
    #define _UNICODE
#elif defined(_UNICODE) && !defined(UNICODE)
    #define UNICODE
#endif
 
#include <tchar.h>
#include <windows.h>
 
/*  Declare Windows procedure  */
LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProcedure (HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
void loadImages();
HWND textfield, nextbutton, himage;
/*  Make the class name into a global variable  */
TCHAR szClassName[ ] = _T("Main");
 
HBITMAP hportrait;
 
int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hThisInstance,
                     HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                     LPSTR lpszArgument,
                     int nCmdShow)
{
    HWND hwnd;               /* This is the handle for our window */
    MSG messages;            /* Here messages to the application are saved */
    WNDCLASSEX wincl;        /* Data structure for the windowclass */
 
    /* The Window structure */
    wincl.hInstance = hThisInstance;
    wincl.lpszClassName = szClassName;
    wincl.lpfnWndProc = WindowProcedure;      /* This function is called by windows */
    wincl.style = CS_DBLCLKS;                 /* Catch double-clicks */
    wincl.cbSize = sizeof (WNDCLASSEX);
 
    /* Use default icon and mouse-pointer */
    wincl.hIcon = LoadIcon (NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wincl.hIconSm = LoadIcon (NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wincl.hCursor = LoadCursor (NULL, IDC_ARROW);
    wincl.lpszMenuName = NULL;                 /* No menu */
    wincl.cbClsExtra = 0;                      /* No extra bytes after the window class */
    wincl.cbWndExtra = 0;                      /* structure or the window instance */
    /* Use Windows's default colour as the background of the window */
    wincl.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH) COLOR_BACKGROUND;
 
    /* Register the window class, and if it fails quit the program */
    if (!RegisterClassEx (&wincl))
        return 0;
 
    /* The class is registered, let's create the program*/
    hwnd = CreateWindowEx (
           0,                   /* Extended possibilites for variation */
           szClassName,         /* Classname */
           _T("Title"),       /* Title Text */
           WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, /* default window */
           CW_USEDEFAULT,       /* Windows decides the position */
           CW_USEDEFAULT,       /* where the window ends up on the screen */
           544,                 /* The programs width */
           375,                 /* and height in pixels */
           HWND_DESKTOP,        /* The window is a child-window to desktop */
           NULL,                /* No menu */
           hThisInstance,       /* Program Instance handler */
           NULL                 /* No Window Creation data */
           );
 
    /* Make the window visible on the screen */
    ShowWindow (hwnd, nCmdShow);
 
    /* Run the message loop. It will run until GetMessage() returns 0 */
    while (GetMessage (&messages, NULL, 0, 0))
    {
        /* Translate virtual-key messages into character messages */
        TranslateMessage(&messages);
        /* Send message to WindowProcedure */
        DispatchMessage(&messages);
    }
 
    /* The program return-value is 0 - The value that PostQuitMessage() gave */
    return messages.wParam;
}
 
 
/*  This function is called by the Windows function DispatchMessage()  */ 

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProcedure (HWND hwnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (message)                  /* handle the messages */
    {
    case WM_CREATE:
        loadImages();
        himage = CreateWindow("STATIC", NULL, WS_VISIBLE
                                  | WS_CHILD | SS_BITMAP, 10, 50, 300, 70,
                                 hwnd, NULL, NULL, NULL);
        SendMessageW(himage, STM_SETIMAGE, IMAGE_BITMAP, (LPARAM) hportrait);
        textfield = CreateWindow("STATIC", "Hello!", WS_VISIBLE
                                 | WS_CHILD | WS_BORDER, 100, 20, 300, 50,
                                 hwnd, NULL, NULL, NULL);
        nextbutton = CreateWindow("BUTTON", "Continue", WS_VISIBLE
                                 | WS_CHILD | WS_BORDER, 140, 80,
                                 200, 20, hwnd, (HMENU) 1, NULL, NULL);
        break;
    case WM_COMMAND:
        switch(LOWORD(wParam)){
        case 1:
            ::MessageBeep(MB_ICONERROR);
            break;
        }
        break;
    case WM_DESTROY:
        PostQuitMessage (0);       /* send a WM_QUIT to the message queue */
        break;
 
    case WM_PAINT:
    {
        PAINTSTRUCT ps;
        HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hwnd, &ps);
 
        FillRect(hdc, &ps.rcPaint, (HBRUSH) (COLOR_WINDOW-2));
        EndPaint(hwnd, &ps);
    }
 
    case WM_ERASEBKGND:
    {
        Sleep(1000);
        return DefWindowProc(hwnd, message, wParam, lParam);
    }
 
    default:                      /* for messages that we don't deal with */
        return DefWindowProc (hwnd, message, wParam, lParam);
    }
 
    return 0;
}
 
void loadImages(){ 
    hportrait = (HBITMAP)LoadImageW(NULL, L"parrots.bmp", IMAGE_BITMAP, 0, 0, LR_LOADFROMFILE);
}

Answer 1

The problem was that the image was an invalid file. I opened ms paint and saved the image as a 24bit bitmap and the program worked with no problems.